…[Daniel Ellsberg] attended Harvard University, graduating with a Ph.D. in Economics in 1962 in which he described a paradox in decision theory now known as the Ellsberg paradox. He graduated first in a class of almost 1,100 lieutenants at the Marine Corps Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, and served as an officer in the Marine Corps for two years. During this time, he deployed to Vietnam as a company commander. After his discharge, he became an analyst at the RAND Corporation.

A committed Cold Warrior, he served in the Pentagon from August 1964[1] under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (and, in fact, was on duty on the evening of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, reporting the incident to McNamara). He then served for two years in Vietnam working for General Edward Lansdale as a civilian in the State Department, and became convinced that the Vietnam War was unwinnable. He further believed that nearly everyone in the State and Defense Departments felt, as he did, that the United States had no realistic chance of achieving victory in Vietnam, but that political considerations prevented them from saying so publicly. McNamara and others continued to state in press interviews that victory was “just around the corner.” As the war continued to escalate, Ellsberg became deeply disillusioned.

After returning from Vietnam, Ellsberg went back to work at the RAND Corporation. As a Vietnam expert, he was invited, in 1967, to contribute to a top-secret study of classified documents regarding the conduct of the Vietnam War that had been commissioned by Defense Secretary McNamara. These documents, completed in 1968, later became known collectively as the Pentagon Papers. Because he held an extremely high-level security clearance, Ellsberg was one of very few individuals who had access to the complete set of documents. They revealed that the government had knowledge, early on, that the war would not likely be won, and that continuing the war would lead to many times more casualties than was ever admitted publicly. Further, the papers showed that high-ranking officials had a deep cynicism toward the public, as well as disregard for the loss of life and injury suffered by soldiers and civilians…

…The study was classified as top secret and was not intended for publication. Contributor Daniel Ellsberg, however, turned over most of the Pentagon Papers to New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan, with Ellsberg’s friend Anthony Russo assisting in their copying. The Times began publishing excerpts in a series of articles on June 13, 1971.[2] Street protests, political controversy and lawsuits followed.

To ensure the possibility of public debate about the content of the papers, on June 29, US SenatorMike Gravel (then Democrat, Alaska) entered 4,100 pages of the Papers to the record of his Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds. These portions of the Papers were subsequently published by Beacon Press, the publishing arm of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.[3]

Article I, Section 6 of the United States Constitution provides that “for any Speech or Debate in either House, [a Senator or Representative] shall not be questioned in any other Place”, thus the Senator could not be prosecuted for anything said on the Senate floor, and, by extension, for anything entered to the Congressional Record, allowing the Papers to be publicly read without threat of a treason trial and conviction.

Later, Ellsberg said the documents “demonstrated unconstitutional behavior by a succession of presidents, the violation of their oath and the violation of the oath of every one of their subordinates”.[4] He added that he leaked the papers to end what he perceived to be “a wrongful war”.[4]

The papers also revealed that four administrations, from Truman to Johnson, had misled the public regarding their intentions. For example, Johnson had decided to expand the war while promising “we seek no wider war” during his 1964 presidential campaign. In another example, a memo from the Defense Department under Johnson listed the reasons for American persistence:“70 %-To avoid a humiliating U.S. defeat…20 %-To keep [South Vietnam] (and the adjacent) territory from Chinese hands.10 %-To permit the people of [South Vietnam] to enjoy a better, freer way of life.ALSO-To emerge from the crisis without unacceptable taint from methods used.NOT-To ‘help a friend’ ” [6]

Another controversy was that President Johnson sent combat troops to Vietnam by July 17, 1965, before pretending to consult his advisors on July 21–July 27, per the cable stating that “Deputy Secretary of DefenseCyrus Vance informs McNamara that President had approved 34 Battalion Plan and will try to push through reserve call-up.”[7] In 1988, when that cable was declassified, it revealed “there was a continuing uncertainty as to [Johnson’s] final decision, which would have to await Secretary McNamara’s recommendation and the views of Congressional leaders, particularly the views of Senator[Richard] Russell“[8]…

What does any of this ancient Vietnam-era crap have to do with the crises faced today by our country?

Just this — Ellsberg was a creature of the US government’s system, yet when confronted with the duplicity and deceit of our country’s leadership, he took — as a solitary individual — decisive action against that evil.

As this country lurches along its deteriorating path in the greatest long-term threat to American liberty since the 1861-1865 Recent Unpleasantness, where are today’s Ellsbergs?

I am both unsuprised and yet still appalled by the law enforcement reactions to Mike’s recent “Choose Whom You Will Serve” essay. I worked with enough local, state, and Federal law enforcement types during my career to know which way the bulk of those folks will turn come Der Tag.

On that large majority, I will waste no more breath. They have made their choices and so must live with the consequences for themselves and their families, as must I.

But as to the remaining LEOs who do not use their badge and their position as a club against their fellow citizens, I must ask:

If Ellsberg had the courage to do what he did, why haven’t you done the same?

For those of you who work in totalitarian jurisdictions such as California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, and the District of Columbia:

How can you claim to be a supporter of the Constitution when your very job is to enforce unconstitutional laws, such as those against firearms possession?

You continue to enforce those unconstitutional laws, yet you hold yourselves out to be different than the “Only Ones” — your rougher, more violent, more criminal brethren in blue.

How can that be? Are you truly any different?

Try reading some Thoreau and King, then ask yourself the same questions again.

On another topic, which pertains to all of you, regardless of jurisdiction:

You either know and/or could find out what the government plans are for crushing civil disorder. You either know or could learn how your jurisdiction plans to infringe on human rights in order to “quell the disturbances.” You either know or could learn about how the US military will operate in conjunction with local, state, and Federal law enforcement, as well as foreign troops, so as to protect your true masters — not the people of the United States, but the bureaucrats and elected so-called “representatives” of the Government.

You know those “emergency plans” exist.

You know that you could obtain access to those plans and leak them to the outside world — just as Ellsberg did nearly forty years ago — to both sound the alarm and to prove just what kind of lying gobs of protoplasm actually are running this country.

Yet you do nothing of the sort.

It’s time to man up, amigos — if you are in fact any different than the majority of your thuggish peers.

It’s time for you to start doing something about stopping the madness of an ever-increasingly militarized police state being erected across this nation.

While it’s nice to hear you promise not to do bad things to the non-.gov Americans in the future, what about getting those unconstitutional plans out into the public domain today and actually prevent those bad things from happening at all?

***…Will we see more of this violence? Most assuredly. Further, as this economic failure matures, damaging ever greater numbers of people, we may see less violence against people and more economic violence (disruption) in an attempt to extract from society as great a cost as they possibly can.

A couple of hundred people, using the super-empowerment afforded by network disruption, could easily cause countless billions in economic damage. A thousand people?

Terrorism from abroad isn’t an existential threat to the US. Domestic terrorism, as a result of systemic failure, can be in a super-empowered age.

The founding document of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, states that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Today, however, just 21% of voters nationwide believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 61% disagree and say the government does not have the necessary consent. Eighteen percent (18%) of voters are not sure.

Uh, there is no way for Washington DC to force people to believe they have given consent. They can only act in a fashion that engenders willfully-given consent.

In light of what happened today in Austin TX, this ought to be resulting in sobering reflection among the “political class.” It won’t, but it should.

Why?

Historians have estimated that between 15 and 20 percent of the white population of the colonies were Loyalists.[2] Historian Robert Middlekauff estimates that about 500,000 colonists, or 19 percent of the white population, remained loyal to Britain.[3]

I had no idea the numbers were this bad at present, but I was aware that in 1776 about 20% of the population was in fact in support of Britain.

“Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito,” or, in English, “Do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it.” — The Aeneid, Book VI by Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC, also known by the Anglicised form of his name, Virgil); it is also the motto of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama.

So, today a guy who according to news reports was so self-absorbed that he set his own house on fire while his wife and child were inside, so that a neighbor had to rescue them; a guy who despised the Catholic Church as much as he despised the Infernal Revenue Service — that guy apparently stole a light plane and dove it like a meteor into the first-floor offices of the IRS in Austin, Texas, no doubt shouting “BANZAI!” as he emulated the Japanese pilots of World War II.

Casualties on the ground are, at this writing, unclear, although they appear to be light. What is clear is what is happening in the media and to a certain degree within the heads of the people who are on our side, the Founders’ side, in our struggle to restore the Republic to something like its original purpose.

“Another Oklahoma City!” trumpets one collectivist blogger. “This is sure to discredit the Tea Baggers!” writes another. Within the Tea Party movement itself, people who were already moving toward the GOP as “our only hope” started skittering in the direction of the RINOs even faster, not wanting to be seen as one of the alleged “ten percent” who the New York Times called paranoid right-wing extremists the other day. This meme will only grow louder after today. (For example, Bill O’Reilly, who has been hosting that lying castrato Mark Potok of the Southern Preposterous Lie Center lately, is proceeding to haul the collectivists’ water for them today by having Stewart Rhodes of Oath Keepers on to answer the bullshit charge of militia apostasy.)

But this I know: now is not the time to seek accommodation with the Party of the Dead Elephant. People who say that “We NEED them — we can’t do anything else but join them, this is a two-party nation” are stating the true order of things precisely upside down — it is the GOP who needs US, not the other way around.

“What will you say,” someone just asked me, “when you are asked about what happened in Austin today?” — as if that was the most pressing issue we have to deal with.

I told her and I will tell you:

I have no sympathy for a man so selfish he takes his own life while at the same time endangering his family with a fiery death. I have no sympathy for a man whose worldview posits all evil in the institution of the Catholic Church, though while certainly flawed still does much good in the world. I have no sympathy for a man who dives an airplane into a building where there might be innocents present. Had I been on the ground at the airport before he took off with perfect knowledge of his plans, I would have shot him in defense of those innocents, if nothing else. No Fort Sumters, I think I have been plain in speaking, and I meant it.

But having said that, I will tell you this — as long as the Leviathan federal government continues to act in an oppressive and unconstitutional fashion, airplanes will be flown into federal buildings, government agents will be shot in the street and tyranny-addled, desperate people will do desperate things. Were I a federal employee, I would take such incidents to be an increasing sign of the times and pay heed to the warning. I would get out before somebody flew a plane into my office.

I will not apologize for this moke, for he is not one of mine, and I am done patiently explaining the difference between him and me.

I am also done explaining to our own side why they shouldn’t take counsel of their fears, why they should look around, consider, and understand how truly powerful they are. I am done wasting my breath because if the people of the United States do not understand yet how divided and deadly dangerous this country has become at the hands of the Gramscian revolutionary collectivists and their Dead Elephant Party apologists, they will never get it. Not now, not later — at least, not in time to do anything about it but mutter “oh, shit” and die as the Leviathan grinds them into the dust of history.

I say now is the time to heed Virgil’s words, “do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it.” Will the activists of the Tea Party be conned into trading their birthright for a mess of Dead Elephant pottage? Frankly, Scarlet, I don’t give a damn. Although I have tried my level best to avoid a civil war, I do not think we will get out of this sustained attack by the Gramscian revolutionists without killing. Somewhere, sometime, at some unexpected flash point, they will kill some of us and then we will begin killing some of them in righteous self defense, and the ball will open.

“One hundred heads.”

But having done my level best, I will not feel personally guilty for it, in the unlikely event that I last beyond the first day. And I refuse now to be apologetic for incidents such as today’s, or, worry about how to persuade the Tea Party-ers otherwise when they seem intent on selling out their own cause.

Be bold, I say. Continue with your preparations. Continue with your training. Steel your minds and steel your hearts. You have nothing to apologize for.

To quote my good friend Pete, “We’re screwed. There’s gonna to be a fight. Let’s win.”

“Actually, if you read the manifesto, you see that he is not upset at big government itself but that big government never helps him.

He whines and whines about how the government, big business, his accountant, etc in short anyone but him have screwed him over and refused to help. He whines and whines and whines that government helps out everyone BUT him and his grievance isn’t that the government is invasive but that it is not invasive in his favor.

He seemed perfectly happy to feed at the public trough when the military was pumping money into aerospace in southern California and he was pissed off that when the Cold War finished and his gravy train ended that the government didn’t charge in a make everything better.

He bitches that he came to Austin and couldn’t compete against the business that already existed. Bitching that others outcompete you and that the government should make sure you get a fair shot in business is not a libertarian point of view.

This guy never even had a thought about personal responsibility and self-reliance.

He’s not a libertarian/classical-liberal. He’s a greedy little piglet who is angry that the bigger piglets pushed him off the teat he felt his by divine right.”

That’s Shannon Love, posting the most perceptive comment I’ve seen yet on what’s being called the manifesto of Andrew Joseph Stack, the person thought to have crashed an airplane into a building including IRS offices in Austin, Texas today.

Everybody with a political axe to grind will be throwing this dead cat back & forth across opposing fences until even after the body is disintegrated, and it might be helpful if people knew what the game was really about.

In the previous five articles in this series, we saw how hypothetical secessionists might plan to strip the nationals of key resources. A secessionist might view certain national resources within their midst as bases from which the nationals might launch oppression. A key element of our hypothetical secessionist author’s plan is to use a nationwide crisis as a trigger condition for launching a coordinated multi-state secession movement.

As stated in the previous installment, this hypothetical scenario is gleaned from a study of history, and is an amalgam of historical fact, national security war-gaming, and discussions which might be happening at present in secessionist circles throughout the countryside. I present this alternative scenario in the form of a hypothetical secessionist’s handbook as an academic exercise to spark discussion. I address these issues only theoretically, but do not endorse any particular course of action beyond this academic discussion. We continue with our hypothetical Crisis Secession Manual in italics.

The crisis is the key. Without it, and the subsequent decimation of the leeches who would oppose us, we secessionists will find ourselves perpetually outnumbered. We will not precipitate this crisis, but we will use it to defeat those who would enslave us with it. Prior to the crisis, our best efforts to secede, or even vote secessionists into office, will be thwarted, and destroyed piecemeal. Guaranteed.

But in peacetime, pre-crisis, how does our hypothetical secessionist author propose that his fellows stack the deck of the sheriffs, mayors, city councils, governors and legislators needed to carry out this plan? It is practically impossible to elect liberty-minded folks to Washington, and have them remain that way for very long. There is a long list of reasons why, but these reasons are beyond the scope of this series. Suffice it to say that they get absorbed and power-drunk once they realize that the majority of the people in this country demand robbery and extortion by them from you.

But what about the local officials, including the sheriffs, mayors, city councils, state legislators and Governors? There is actually a chance to make a difference there. For one thing, the check-cashing leeches tend to pay far less attention to local and state elections. The checks available from those folks just aren’t that large. It is entirely conceivable for dedicated secessionists to field and elect some of these folks today. Hardly anyone will notice. Would you? Be warned, however, the same system which produces corrupt county commissioners will still be a force to be contended with.

But a nationwide, large-scale crisis will provide secessionists with an unparalleled opportunity. To exploit this opportunity, however, we must be ready. To this end, we must become involved with local grassroots organizations, not to carry posters, but to recruit those dissatisfied with mere posterboard. They are our allies in this fight which must come. From our number, recruited from whatever source, we may select our fellows who will one day serve in these key positions when the current officeholders quail in fear.

This sounds extreme on first reading, but I point the interested reader to the reaction of Kathleen Blanco, then-Governor of Louisiana during Katrina. She folded. During a crisis for which she should have been mentally prepared, she found herself totally out of her depth. Many of our current crop of politicians will do exactly the same thing. In such a state (of mind), these individuals will become frozen, particularly as their national nursemaids are busy elsewhere.

In this environment, many state officials may tender untimely resignations. Others may cite personal reasons, such as a desire to spend a little more time with their families. Others may be convinced of the wisdom of resignation. It is at this point that we have an opportunity to, in-extremis, populate these positions with pro-Constitution, pro-States’-rights, and pro-secessionist minds. I leave the details of implementing this necessary succession phase to others.

Regardless, we need to make sure that we have our Secessionist slate of potential office-holders prepared in advance. All others, dealing with the crisis as an interruption of their power, will be in chaos. We, seeing the crisis as the opportunity that it is, can be prepared accordingly.

As such, we need to convene in our various States, not to amend the Constitution, but to prepare our slates of future local and state office holders. The Constitution is fine; the problem there is that no one pays attention to it any more. No, our problem is in our local communities and our states; our problems surround us.

We need to know who our top three picks for each Governor are among our number. We need to identify two or three secessionist candidates for each spot in the legislatures. We need to identify who these people will appoint as the leadership of the State Guards. We need to know who our top two picks are for each sheriff and police chief, mayor and councilman. And then when the time comes, and the current office holders falter or resign in the face of chaos or reasoned encouragement, we had better be ready with more than just intellectual yak.

In effect, we need to have a shadow government in-being, waiting in the wings. This is not a subversion, but a preparation, by deciding who among our fellow citizens are worthy of being our official servants when the time comes. To decide, we need to consider key litmus issues, each of which reveals a candidate’s deep understanding of liberty in all its forms.

One such first litmus issue our hypothetical secessionists might choose is the drug war. No public policy has been more destructive to liberty in the name of good than this. Militarized police, no-knock entry, breeding grounds for individual and gang violence, criminalization of gun ownership, unlimited property seizure for mere proximity to certain molecules; all of these and more are the spawn of the drug war. All in the name of protecting a class of people who would do us all a favor by keeling over dead from an overdose.

Even those who call themselves conservatives get in on the act. Incredulously, these people, who howl in anguish if a locality seizes their property based on an increase in tax base, think that it is perfectly OK to teach you a lesson in obedience by making you susceptible to property seizure even if evidence is planted on you. Or perhaps it is done for the children; yet your children are more at risk from being caught experimenting than the experimentation itself. At least I know mine are, since I have taught them from an early age the risks and horrors of drug use. Some conservatives, who are against socialized healthcare, complain that if we don’t stop drugs then we’ll have to pay for the care of those who use them. Why? Why not just not write that check either?

I could go on and on about the drug war and similar victimless crimes, but the bottom line is that those who favor the drug war have a basic disconnect with the Constitution. People should be free to live their lives, and be free to destroy them. Or to smash their unprotected skulls on the pavement when they crash their motorcycle.

Another key litmus issue is debt-free currency. Much has been written about this topic elsewhere, but the bottom line is that our circulating currency should not be used as a means to transfer wealth to a small group of powerful men.

A third key litmus issue is gun rights. I’m sure I’m speaking to the choir here. And not just those weapons which are currently OK for us to own. We need to unroll the carpet quite a bit here. The concept of a militia isn’t just for farmers and pitchforks, it is for all the modern equivalents of pitchforks and muskets, too. See this article for more ideas about how to give the local kids something useful to do away from the Nintendo.

A fourth key litmus issue is civility versus liberty. In our cookie-cutter world, we’ve been bred to value civility over liberty. One pundit even refers to this as the Civilest of Wars. How absurd. I wonder, did our forefathers have their pinky fingers in the air as they shoved the bayonet into the heart of the agents of their oppressors? Someone who is trying to take my liberty does not deserve my civility. That I reserve for my patriot brethren with whom I desire to live in peace. Civility, like respect, must be earned, not demanded, and can never be placed above liberty. Which is why we must be tolerant of offense in others, rather than immediately rise to pass laws to restrict those we consider rude lest their chains be placed around our necks also.

A fifth key litmus issue is public versus private charity. True charity is an individual, private decision, and is tempered by judgment by the giver to determine worthiness of the recipient. Those who would implement charity by robbing us should never be placed in a position of public power. We all see where enforced public charity has led us.

With the appropriate litmus tests, which probe the liberty quotient of our fellow man during nothing more than casual discussions as we meet them, or read their online words, we can decide beforehand who is worthy to be our servants in office. And then, we wait, for our time will surely come.

It almost goes without saying that those of our fellows currently in these positions who have assisted the nationals in peacetime not be entertained as suitable candidates. When the nationals come to take your guns, watch and remember the names and faces of those in local uniform who assist them. Your time will come.

As a man of science and faith, the two being mutually supporting in my view, I am always eager to try experiments to probe the mysteries of Creation. Here’s another such experiment. When asked to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, make one little change: “… one nation, under God, (pause), with liberty and justice for all.” Don’t rush past the “indivisible” part, just pause, and by so doing emphasize its absence. Those around you may notice, and so this becomes a great ice-breaker. Most, believing the fairy tales they have been taught, might flee from you in panic. But you just might find a kindred spirit, too. A secessionist’s heart might be warmed by the prospect of a large gathering in which silence reigns supreme in place of that word. Or at least greatly diminished in volume, which in itself says much. We can only hope.

More likely, however, is that you will find, as I do, that many more than half of our fellow citizens worship at the altar of national supremacy. And worship at that altar so strongly that they chide you, or worse, for your treasonous silence. A few veterans, incredulously, may even lambaste you with two conflicting assertions: “I took an oath to the Constitution” and “how dare you talk about secession.” Secessionists need no lecture as to the conflict in these two assertions. That little experiment will tell you a lot about your fellow man, and the forces against which we are arrayed.

As we have seen in this series, secession is not a topic to be considered lightly. Among intellectual circles it has gained a certain amount of momentum, but we also need to be clear about the risks involved. Should we head down that path as these united States, we need to understand reality as it is, and not what we wish it to be.

Our hypothetical secessionist author might conclude his manual with the following flourish:

When our numbers have grown sufficiently, or theirs have diminished, leave not one square inch of ground upon which the nationals may land. Drain the swamps from which these reptiles slither.

*************************************************************Tom Baugh is the author of Starving the Monkeys, Fight Back Smarter. He is also a former Marine, patented inventor, entrepreneur and professional irritant.

“Choose this day whom you will serve.”: An Open Letter to American Law Enforcement.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity. — William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming.”

Gentlemen and ladies of American Law Enforcement,

There is a growing perception among many Americans that we are headed for one of those periodic moments in our history when our reactions to events will redefine who we are as a people, where we are going as a country and who gets to call the shots when we get there — what George H.W. Bush called “that vision thing.” This is happening in the middle of unprecedented external and internal stresses on our social order, the results of which you see daily on the streets.

It is going to get worse.

Odds are, it is going to get MUCH worse before it gets better.

IF it gets better any time soon, which I doubt.

And so, ladies and gentlemen of American law enforcement, the prudent among you should be considering this question now, rather than later: “What am I going to do when we get to ‘much worse’?”

Consider first where we are.

The Justice Department’s National Gang Intelligence Center estimated last year that there were over a million hard-core gang members in this country who were responsible for over 80% of the crimes in many communities. Other experts have suggested that when you add in the gangs’ “extended families” and wannabes the number is closer to between five and ten million. As unemployment has increased, their numbers have likewise swelled.

But the gangs, as bad as they are and as great a threat as they pose to public order, are nothing compared to the larger problem, and that is this.

Respect for duly constituted authority and social trust are essential ingredients of civilization. These elements represent the basic glue of society.

Respect for duly constituted authority is, as every cop knows, at an all-time low. There are two general reasons for this, one systemic and the other so personal that if you look yourselves honestly in the mirror you can see it.

Systemically, “duly constituted authority” derives its legitimacy from the founding documents of our country, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and from the Founders’ concepts of the rule of law. These have all been under attack for a hundred years or more by both corrupt political parties and their union and business familiars. The Constitution has become for some a joke and for others an inconvenient speed bump on the road to tyranny. As long as this degradation of the legitimacy of our political and legal system was perceived by only a narrow portion of the population, it was manageable in a societal sense. This is no longer true.

When a president and Congress robs one set of people to enrich their cronies, when they violate the settled rule of law regarding bankruptcy to stiff secured creditors in the case of General Motors while rewarding self-anointed unsecured creditors — their political allies, the auto unions — the rest of the population cannot fail but conclude that we are no longer under the rule of law, but the rule of men, which is to say, the law of the jungle. Or, put another way, they — the “authorities” — can do anything that the citizenry can’t or won’t stop them from doing. This is the societal Catch 22 we are now in (and have been for a while) that I call “Waco Rules.”

Other cases such as that of David Olofson, a veteran and marksmanship instructor and family man who was railroaded by the ATF on an automatic weapons charge when his semi-automatic AR-15 malfunctioned (and he was chosen for prosecution simply because the ATF did not care for his low opinion of them), have convinced many that a fair trial is no longer possible in federal court if an agency decides to “deal with” them. And if we are no longer guaranteed a fair trial in the federal court system, then if we are innocent and decide that we do not wish to play drop the soap with either the Aryan or Muslim Brotherhoods, our only guarantee is the right of an unfair gunfight when the ATF comes calling.

And remember that Olofson is merely one example of federal misadventure. There are many others, as there are plenty of similar cases in local and state jurisdictions. When the law-abiding rightfully no longer trust the law enforcers and begin to view them as a class of criminals merely acting under color of law, anarchy is not far away.

Yet, you will say, “don’t blame me, I enforce the law, I don’t make it.” True, but insufficient as an excuse, and here we get down to that look in the mirror.

My friend, fellow gun rights blogger and National Examiner columnist David Codrea over at WaronGuns has a description for feral cops. He calls them the “Only Ones.” His daily blog is filled to overflowing with example of rogue cops, their partners who never rein them in and the prosecutors and judges who find reasons to go easy on even the most heinous of criminals with badges. You know who I’m talking about. If you say there are none of these currently operating or in the making within your department then you are either lying or uninterested in seeing the truth, which amounts to the same thing.

Everyone knows what happens to honest cops who “rat out” their uniformed criminal associates. They are hounded, despised, disciplined and shunned — and that’s on a good day. Can you blame many of us who pay attention to such law enforcement corruption for concluding that you may merely be a member of an “official gang” as opposed to a freelance one? Such dereliction of duty begs the question: If your excuse is that you don’t make the law, you just enforce it, and then you don’t enforce it upon yourselves, why should we be paying tax dollars to support “official” law breaking?

There is another image that many of you can see in the mirror if you choose to take an honest look — that of tax collector and nanny state bully boy. Yes, we know, you didn’t make the laws, some liberal puke with a control fetish did. But when you write speeding tickets for 3 miles over the limit because you’ve been told to write “x amount” of dollar value, or when you pull people over for “seatbelt violations” at random roadblocks and then ransack their cars without probable cause, can you understand how such behavior eats away like acid on your reputation — individually and collectively — as servants of the citizenry? What part of “to protect and serve” does that represent?

But worse than all that is the militarization of the police — in equipment, tactics and, worst of all, attitude — and the federalization of all law enforcement over the past forty years, but especially in the last ten. There were, last time I checked a few years ago, something like 750,000 full time state, city, university and college, metropolitan and non-metropolitan county, and other law enforcement officers in the United States. Add to that another 150,000 or so full time law enforcement personnel working for the federal government. With the growth of new agencies like the TSA during the “war on terror” (who, because of political correctness can’t seem to figure out who the real “terrorists” are so they merely oppress the rest of us in order to be “fair”) that number has certainly risen.

In any case, there are hardly enough Feds to work the administration’s will upon a nation so vast and a people so numerous, so, much thought and effort has gone into suborning and subverting local and state law enforcement for federal purposes — “Joint Task Forces” and “fusion centers” being two principal ways. Yet, as the Founders quite clearly understood, it is one of the duties of local law enforcement, especially the county sheriffs, to interpose themselves between the federal government and the people of their jurisdictions when the federal government becomes oppressive.

Now, however, local law enforcement is looked upon by federal agents as force multipliers and willing stooges — “local yokels” in their parlance. And as a mark of how successful their campaign has been, many local law enforcement officers agree and happily lick the boots that kick them.

A recent case in point. Two county sheriff’s deputies showed up at the doorstep of a man out west who had expressed his contempt for Nancy Pelosi and and other federal politicians in letters and emails. These deputies, saying that the FBI had sent them, interrogated the man, threatened him “with Leavenworth” and engaged in intimidation of political speech. These local cops, having no jurisdiction to do anything of the sort, would have been laughed off of my porch here in Alabama and told to bugger off and return with real federal cops, if that was in fact their intention. Too often these days, when the federal man says “frog” many of you merely ask “how high?”

Of course, if this intimidation had back-fired on the locals in any way, the Fibbies would have been the first to disavow them, leaving them hanging out in the legal laundry to dry. So when y’all are looking in that mirror, ask yourselves how truly stupid you actually are when it comes to enforcing an agenda and not the law just because the Feds ask you to.

Because here’s the essential thing: you, ALL OF YOU, took an oath to, among other things, “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” You swore that, the overwhelming majority of you, to God. Did you think that oath had a shelf life? Do you think that now that you have by your reckoning faithfully upheld that oath for, say, twenty years now that tomorrow it is okay to forget it? You swore, whether you realized it at the time or not, an OATH, before GOD, and it was a LIFETIME oath.

While you are looking in the mirror, evaluate your career based upon that oath. It was not to a man, or an administration, or a political party but to an idea — the idea of ordered liberty as codified in the Constitution of the United States of America. So ask yourself, did you or did you not intend to faithfully uphold that oath? Because the answer to that question is going to become very important very quickly as this politically divided and morally fractured society continues to spin out of control.

To quote Joshua, “Choose this day whom you will serve.”

Katrina showed us many things. It showed that in a disaster many cops will look to their families and not the public duty, leaving their fellow law enforcement officers with an even greater burden. It showed us that cops can be opportunistic criminals as well, partaking in looting with as much energy as professional criminals. It also showed us that the police no longer trust the law-abiding citizen with arms, depriving them of their only means of self-defense once the cops have moved on, thus leaving them to the tender mercies of robbers, rapists and murderers.

It is perhaps dangerous to make too large of a generalization, for there are many rural jurisdictions where this does not apply, but the fact of the matter is that by and large, the police no longer trust the people they are supposed to protect, and they especially do not trust an armed citizen, even if he represents no danger to the cop. This is standing the oath on its head. The people do not exist to serve the servant, but rather the other way around.

When a policeman pulls over a driver whose computer record shows not only the driver’s license of the vehicle’s owner, but the fact that they have a concealed carry permit, it is too often SOP for the cop to approach the vehicle, gun drawn, order the man or woman from the car, put them on their knees and cuff them before anything else transpires. These are not the acts of public servants but rather of an occupying army. And with each breach of trust, the glue holding society together is further weakened. For the more you distrust us, the more we are reminded to distrust you.

It is important to remember, Mr. and Ms. Law Enforcement Officer, that you need us, the law-abiding armed citizenry, one hell of a lot more than we need you. Just ask any criminal. Who is it that they fear most? The encounter with a policeman or a would-be victim who turns out to be armed? I tell you this uncomfortable truth and I hope you have the honesty to admit it — the criminals of this country are far more scared of the armed citizenry than they are of the police.

It is not the fear of the patrol car that inhibits criminal behavior the most, but rather the prospect of screwing up and getting his brains blown out by a citizen in righteous self defense. And so, when you participate in citizen disarmament efforts, whether gun seizures like Katrina, or merely identifying otherwise friendly peaceable folks as “the enemy” just because they are armed, you are alienating your most valuable friends and empowering your most vicious enemies. Not to mention the fact that you are violating that sacred oath you took.

So ponder that deteriorating social trust that holds civilizations together, and then ponder this: the worst is yet to come.

What will happen when we are faced, God forbid, with some dislocating national disaster — natural or man-made — that makes Katrina look like a kindergarten playground? Now, even if you intend to run off like some New Orleans policemen did, to see to the safety of their families rather than keep order in the city, you are still going to need the cooperation of the armed citizenry in your home neighborhood to protect your family.

You — ALL of you — law enforcement officers, will then need us, the armed citizenry — ALL of us willing and competent to muster — to defend public order against the tide of chaos represented by five or ten million gang members and the tens of millions of panicked unprepared refugees or opportunistic criminals left unrestrained by a breakdown.

Do you seriously think that federal police, all 150,000 of them, will actually help you in that event, beyond issuing orders that they will not be personally endangered with carrying out?

You will then be on your own, and you will have us. At least those of you will who have the sense to plan now to make that happen in the event.

You might start by remembering your oaths, by beginning to trust us, by refusing to engage in petty harrassments of CCW permit holders and by strengthening your department’s auxiliary program (or starting one if you do not have one).

But first and foremost you must quit looking at and treating the law-abiding armed citizenry of the United States as the enemy. For if you don’t, we certainly will be.

Convince us by your actions that you are no better than the gangs who commit crimes without uniforms and we will treat you similarly. And there ain’t nearly enough of you to shove us around in a real national emergency.

Remember, Americans are nothing if not a practical people. We’re predisposed to help and support you. Please, take our hand when it is offered, BEFORE it is needed.

Sincerely,

Mike VanderboeghThe alleged leader of a merry band of Three PercentersGeorgeMason1776@aol.comsipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.comPO Box 926Pinson, AL 35126

In the previous articles in this series, we have discussed the implications of even the most civil secession movement, and the horrific consequences of even a best-case scenario. Yet, secessionists nobly believe that unbridled power at the national level is the root cause of many of the ills we see around us today. The previous installments of this series show what might happen should secessionists take a naive approach. The tentacles of the nationals surround us, in many cases at the urging of the nationalists in our midst.

In the previous installments, I presented an italicized hypothetical narrative as a framework for discussion of issues that would face a best-case secession. Even in the best-case, the nationalist tentacles, absent a major nationwide crisis which would overtax their command and control systems, lead to a counter-offensive which would crush a successful secession in days or weeks.

I now present an alternative scenario, which, as before, will be indicated by italics. This hypothetical scenario is gleaned from a study of history, and is an amalgam of historical fact, national security war-gaming, and discussions which might be happening at present in secessionist circles throughout the countryside. I present this alternative scenario in the form of a hypothetical secessionist’s handbook as an academic exercise to spark discussion. I address these issues only theoretically, but do not endorse any particular course of action beyond this academic discussion.

Crisis Secession Manual

It is clearly understood by our brethren that circumstances in our nation are rapidly becoming intolerable, yet most of our fellow citizens are distinguishing themselves as complicit in the slide toward totalitarianism. A naive secessionist might find to his horror that the majority of his fellow national citizens, rather than being grateful for being freed of their chains, will in fact demand an immediate return to the national status quo. The multitudes have instead been bought and paid for by property stolen from us.

It is essential that our brethren read and understand several sources of doctrine. As we learn from Che Guevara’s “Guerrilla Warfare”, refuse battle until we have popular support and the necessary conditions for victory in that battle. As long as we hold ourselves as independent creations of our God, enslaved to no man, the slave traders who surround us in our neighborhoods will never lend us popular support. This we accept as a fundamental principle. Instead of weakening our principles as the electables do, we commit ourselves to preparing for the crisis which must come. Our enemies’ own actions will defeat them, as we wait for their failed enslavement to run its due course. If the populace will not support liberty, then the evolutionary cycle, which must follow, will itself trim the herd of the slave traders among us as they grasp for their crumb which we choose to withhold from them. Those who survive will, on balance, be more sympathetic to our cause of liberty. As a result, we will inherit the pre-condition of inherent popular support in the progress and aftermath of that crisis.

So why does the author of that fictional secessionist manual recommend Che Guevara? Because it isn’t the leftist tome that you’ve been led to believe. This book is required reading in many military circles (take a close look at that URL while you are at it). Most of it will surprise you if you have never read it but have only heard what posterboard patriots have to say about it. Consider the following quote from Che’s first chapter alone:

“He (the guerrilla fighter) interprets the desires of the great peasant mass to be owners of land, owners of their means of production, of their animals, of all that which they have long yearned to call their own, of that which constitutes their life…”

Wow. What a bastard. As it turns out, both the coffee shop Marxist and the golf course conservative are wrong about this guy, or at least wrong about the message in his book. When I hear alligator tears being shed to keep the posterboard patriots from reading it, when I was paid by the taxpayer to read it as part of my professional Marine Corps education, I have to question the motives of the messenger. What don’t they want you to see? Granted, the guy was a genuine bastard and monstrous violator of human rights, but you have to recognize his proven credentials in the art of guerrilla warfare. The hypothetical author of that secessionist manual merely expects his readers to learn from the master.

Note also that we have unlocked the door to our own domestic policies, which could one day erupt in unlawful detention and torture of mere suspects. Let you or some of your family spend some time in a modern-day gulag, and you might find yourself inclined to find out more about what else Che had to say about his other area of expertise. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, and that our elected representatives continue to defend our civil rights with vigor and fortitude. Our manual writer continues:

It is also essential that our brethren learn the concepts of Fourth Generation Warfare, on the large scale, and the principles of Maneuver Warfare, on the small. Surprise, speed, deception and local superiority against isolated pockets of a larger enemy are as valuable in the political and economic realm as they are in their military application.

A rifle is only as effective as the mind which directs it. Ignorance can destroy us as swiftly as a lack of ammunition or weapons, perhaps even more so. Shed of ignorance, we can always find means with which to fight, and paths to victory which allow our enemies to destroy themselves.

Understand this point clearly: gun control is not about controlling guns, it is about killing gun owners who would fight for their liberty. Especially, gun owners who are dangerous to tyrants even if unarmed, through the virtue of their ideas and skills alone. Yet, those who would fight for their freedoms are exactly the people who deserve to inherit our nation and restore its liberty, but that is impossible to accomplish if they are killed in a raid or by an unseen drone piloted by a Y-Box geek. You must survive to see the victory ahead. Those who would rely solely on stored guns, ammunition and food must also store away knowledge and skill against the day when those are in short supply as well. Our hypothetical secessionist author is pointing the way to an essential syllabus for his readers.

If we secede too early, our enemies will draw upon a vast reserve of resources. In the case of a single State or a handful of States, this larger reserve encompasses the United States as a whole. The necessary conditions are those in which the State forces would have a reasonable chance of taking, and holding, their State against nationalist invasion. This requires not one state, or a few states seceding, but ideally more than half, all at once, the remainder too disorganized to mount effective resistance in time before their own organic secessionists seize their opportunity.

To accomplish this, the advantages of the nationalists have to be neutralized, or even turned against them as weapons. We realize that the main advantage of the nationalists is to mobilize public opinion to accept any atrocity or lies. This advantage lies in the ability of the nationalists to bribe as much support as needed, regardless of the long-term effect on the health of the economy and the citizenry.

He’s on to something. To the typical check-casher citizen, whatever crumbs they get by anonymous theft from you, it beats what they are willing to earn on their own. The nationals, including elected government officials, and non-elected enforcement agents, are merely expressing the will of the majority. You and all your carping about liberty are the problem in their eyes. It matters not to them that their every sustenance is taken from you first. At least it doesn’t matter to them yet.

We can all agree that we are sliding toward a crisis of some kind. Whether your favorite crisis scenario involves monetary policy, food supplies, energy resources, or whatever, something bad is headed our way. For years, or decades, we have been clawing at the rails to slow down the train headed toward the cliff. There are a lot of bloody fingertips out there, but there is good news. Producers can survive a major crisis in far greater numbers than can the leeches who depend on those producers. So stop clawing.

Imagine Katrina. Now imagine a hundred simultaneous Katrina-scale crises, of any origin. An economic collapse, for example, would do. In that environment, will the nationals be able to round us up individually, or even attack us state-by-state? Will nationalist sympathizers in state and local offices be able to assist them? Most of these people will be overwhelmed. Most of the nationalist sympathizers will be wondering why the trucks aren’t bringing them their due. Within days or weeks many of these people will be fighting, and killing, each other. We just have to stay out of the way long enough, and then be ready to act. Much of the national capability to suppress us will be overwhelmed, and as such many of the national agents will be on their own, or in small clumps, and as such, receptive to gentle persuasion. We prepare the battlefield, not for the next national election cycle, but for that day. Our time will come.

So how does our hypothetical secessionist author help prepare this battlefield?

Read on and find out.

We must whisper into the ears of our sheriffs and police chiefs about mass deputization. In a crisis, groups of deputized volunteers form the core, and teeth, of local militias. And if these officials will not hear our whispers, we must be ready to defeat them at the polls, or to replace them in a crisis should they resign. Never forget, however, that to the modern politician, his true constituency is the masses of the looter populace, not us.

We must also court the local or county managers and other legislative bodies. These have the ability, and responsibility, to authorize the law enforcement officials, and their militias, to seal the borders of their communities or counties, and to repel invasion. Further, in a crisis, keeping the looters bottled up in their localities gives our brethren there an opportunity to act more efficiently. Immigration policies could allow individuals with key skills or knowledge entry. For example, a doctor is probably always welcome, as are welders, machinists, engineers, housewives, and so on. That list is long. So is the list of undesirables, including white-collar professions which don’t add original value to civilization but simply leech from the productive.

One level up are the Governors’ mansions. These are currently populated, in general, by those who see their role in a crisis as redistribution of property, rather than as the preservers of property rights. We are determined to change this mindset immediately, and try to elect to these positions those who give undivided attention to the role of the States in liberty. These offices are also responsible for repeating the local deputization, only Statewide, and commanding the State Guard.

The various State legislators have the responsibility of handing the Governor the authority to arrest all national forces within the borders who are attempting to violate the rights of State citizens, including those who have so acted previously, and to seize national assets, by force if necessary, that are used by, or could be used by, nationals to launch attacks against State citizens. These assets could then be placed in the service of the State Guard or the local militias, as appropriate. As a result, courting current and prospective legislators is essential.

We secessionists realize that national office buildings are the first of several categories of key national assets. These serve the role of communication hubs, and staging points for national agents to mass against State citizens. Each such building has an official appointed to manage the facility; these individuals can surrender them to the State forces given suitable encouragement, leaving the national agents based there without their usual safehouse. These locations also contain vital intelligence useful for locating other safehouses and operational assets within the State.

We know that national military reservations would be a little harder to crack, at least at first until the base commanders could be convinced of the futility of continued resistance. Some of these national military reservations, such as air bases, for example, usually lack sufficient ground power to protect themselves. Conversely, ground assets in other locations will be deprived of their usual air power, and thus weakened and demoralized by the loss of their usual ace hole card.

Given a nationwide crisis of sufficient magnitude, many of these units will already be in the field. We secessionists realize that this combination will give the State Guards and militias the ability to overwhelm most national reservations without firing a shot. Deprived of their home bases, including the administrative and logistic support found there, many fielded units will also collapse quickly and wish to simply return to their homes and families. The various secessionist Governors should accept the tendered surrender of these national assets with grace and civility and to return these areas to the service of the citizens of their State.

But we are not bloodthirsty villains. We secessionists plan to welcome worthy suburban survivors and homestead them on seized national parks. As such, encourage the productive few you meet to not fear the impending collapse. Instead, encourage them to use the remaining time before this crisis to prepare themselves with useful knowledge and skills.

The crisis is the key. Without it, and the subsequent decimation of the leeches who would oppose us, we secessionists will find ourselves perpetually outnumbered. We will not precipitate this crisis, but we will use it to defeat those who would enslave us with it. Prior to the full fruition of the crisis, our best efforts to secede, or even vote secessionists into office, will be thwarted, and destroyed piecemeal.

Guaranteed.

But in peacetime, pre-crisis, how does our hypothetical secessionist author propose that his fellows stack the deck of the sheriffs, mayors, city councils, governors and legislators needed to carry out this plan?

Those three letters are enough to put a healthy dose of doom-enriched fear into any well prepped doomer right? It took me a while just to learn what those letters meant; when I did finally look them up in the acronym appendix of the doomer’s bible I was silent.

Mutant-Zombie-Bikers?

What kind of fantasy freak group was I associating myself with?

I just disliked the term because I couldn’t get over the strange thoughts being conjured up in my head of a pack of deranged bikers on dirt bikes, old Harley’s, quads, you name it with bleeding flesh and hollowed eyes all coming to attack us after a collapse. We would be all snug and happy in our doomsteads and BOLs but these MZBs would seek us out to destroy us. So yeah, I just couldn’t deal with the term and didn’t care for it much because it was too abstract and unrealistic.

As time went on and my doomerish view of the world became more and more into focus I kept revisiting the MZB concept. What if the zombie in them didn’t refer to some ghoulish character but rather someone who had lost everything and gained the 100 yard stare? Someone who has lost all sense of purpose but still feels the need to move forward? What if the mutant part referred to the transformation some unprepared over-suburbanized schmuck goes through as they realize everything they had worked for, all their competing with the Jones’, all their mass consuming waste was all for naught and now had nowhere to go, nothing to live off of, and no knowledge of how to begin to survive? What if the biker part didn’t represent the biker gangs of today but rather the same misguided victim of suburbia taking their hobby bike with the last bit of gas and hitting the road in search of food for their overweight, weak, and defenseless family to never return? What if a MZB is simply a former misguided suburbia rat who is now discovering what it means to live and is angry at himself, angry at the world, and especially angry at those who are living a more comfortable post-collapse existence because they were prepared?

As we move closer to the point where a total societal breakdown occurs one way or another it will become very apparent who is prepared and who isn’t. My head has been filled with fantasies that when the day comes when anarchy dominates over civilized life that those who weren’t prepared would be begging for help, doing anything they could to survive, but for the most part not resorting to violence. I stand corrected.

A casual dinner visit with some close friends was my point of awakening to how ugly everything will be. We were having beers and discussing how we keep getting warning article after warning article but nothing ever happens. Something commonly discussed here. We are tired of the warnings; we are tired of prepping for something that will never come; we are starting to not believe that there will be a collapse. At this point the brother of my friends comes in. He had been a former employee of mine during a construction project five years ago. During that there had been a conflict whereas he thought he was owed more for his efforts than we had paid him (bonus pay). Over the years it had seemed this rift had healed. He joined the conversation and then boldly stated, “if there is a day like you guys describe then I’ll just hit the road and take whatever the f*** I want. I’ll finally get to get back all that the rich f***s like you have taken from me! F*** you rich bastards! You guys have only gotten ahead because of the sweat from people like me! The day you describe when payback will finally be here!”

We just sat there stunned! I had never considered myself rich. I had started my business with maxing out one credit card, buying used salvage equip and rehabbing it, and sold off all my furniture to buy opening inventory. I worked over 80 hours a week for the first several years while working another full time job. For all of the risk, hard work, and sacrifice for 10 years we make a nice comfortable living; my friends I was visiting had worked equally hard towards becoming a professor. All this time my friends brother was partying, in and out of jail, playing, playing, playing but now as he has nothing and we are comfortable there is an incredible anger and rage within him! Behold the birth of a MZB!

I don’t know why but that moment brought together a flood of memories over the past few years of isolated events that I put no thought into. Working in the garden while a pickup truck of loud and obviously drunk guys driving by along the irrigation ditch road, as I looked up they flipped us off yelling obscenities; being threatened by employees that were being fired; being flipped off and cussed at by the low rider crowd (Bienvendos a Nuevo Mexico). All of a sudden what I thought were isolated incidents of angry individuals not to be taken seriously transformed into everything I thought that MZBs could never be.

The day is coming when the collapse does occur and that day will represent freedom by all those who have not prepared and those who have not been fortunate to make it. That day will represent the day that they can begin exchanging their anger for all the pieces we prepared ones have carefully put away safe and sound. There will be no begging for help by those angry hordes; we will be the ones begging for mercy as we give up all we worked so hard for and thoughtfully put away. These people who you see now at the bar at 5, those people you see wasting their few dollars on the bread and circus shows like Nascar races, football games, strip clubs, malls; those people that have invested more money into their vehicles than their vehicles are worth with stereos, chromed rims, oversized exhausts, etc.; it is these people that are the ones who we will be fearing. They have been undergoing a professional training in instant gratification and the day of collapse will be the moment when the supermall of mass instant gratification opens its doors: That supermall will be the homes of the prepared.

Are you ready for that day? I know I’m not. I have plenty of supplies, firearms and ammo, water, fuel, you name it but I am not ready to defend it from masses of the angry hordes staking claims on all we have worked for. The day I saw the rage in my friends face I realized I wasn’t ready. I had considered needing to defend myself from some abstract threat as foreign and vague as the term MutantZombieBiker; I hadn’t considered needing to defend myself from what I bet is 85% of the mass population.

What happens when collapse comes and total anarchy let’s go and you are one out of 10 families who is prepared and able to be comfortable. My 6+months of food, water, fuel, ammo will be taken by force and I will only be hoping that my family isn’t brutalized. Take a piece of paper; make a grid of 3 dots by 3 dots. The dot in the center is you; the dots surrounding you are your unprepared neighbors who have always waved hello but who now realize you have what they need and are pissed off that you unfairly sacrificed your wages and effort to be prepared while they partied and played. You will not hold these people off at bay whether you are surrounded by 10 acres or are smack in the middle of suburbia. The only way you stand a chance is to begin converting those surrounding dots into equally prepared families who will stand strong with you. The problem is that each one of those families will have friends or families who will ultimately not have any preps and will come to claim their share and consequently part of your stores.

In the past year I have moved from NM to a smaller CO town. I was on the verge of making a decision on buying a property. One is 40 acres right on the edge of town but with a running water source and good farmable land. The other is 5 acres and a nice house with greenhouses shops, a creek, and several outbuildings where a doomer could survive so easily but is right in town. The third is 40 acres on the backside of a mountain overlooking town and has no running water, is completely undeveloped, 4wd access, and surrounded by eight other 40 acre parcels. One realization I had, is that those unprepared masses , are inherently lazy; they are unprepared because they refused to put in the extra effort to become prepared. It is the ant vs. grasshopper fable in the classic sense except the grasshopper will be armed and will outnumber the ant 1:10. By being on either of the first two locations I will be easily accessible by all but the absolute laziest ones. The running water on those two properties will also attract people. I have decided on the remote 40 acres (:30 4wd drive but only a :15 mt bike ride from town).

It will be a lot harder to make an ideal doomstead but there won’t be any running water for people to follow, it will take a lot of physical effort, my preps will be hidden and the surrounding 40 acres properties are owned by similar doomer folks. Let the MZBs come because the advantage will be belonged to me. It is impractical to live there full time with kids in school and businesses to run but as part of the plan we will live in a plain, old small, non-fancy, house in town; I realize that by living in a home equal to what I can afford I make myself and family a target. By living in the smallest home we can fit in and having zero preps visible we can let our friends and family wonder why we live so insanely modest. On weekends and days when we have time we stay at the retreat home which will be 100% off grid and will contain everything needed to be self sufficient for a minimum of 6 months.

There is an unfathomable amount of anger and bitterness in all of our communities. Other terms thrown out that evening in the conversation were that people who were prepped are “elitists”, “better than others”, “you can only prep if you are a rich f***”, “we [bro & his buddies] can’t wait to show who will be the new boss in town”, “a new sheriff will be in town”; you all get the drift.

The Mutant Zombie Bikers are alive and well and I know I have grossly underestimated their threat.

Have you?

Read the comments, as well, while considering the nature and character of the majority of folks in your AO.

In this series thus far, we have discussed the framework of secession via a hypothetical example of how simple events can easily spin out of control and lead to a populist demand for a national clampdown. We also saw how our situation today differs significantly from that faced by the quintessential example of government oppression, the Jews in Germany prior to the Holocaust. Hitler wishes he had had our technology at his disposal.

As mentioned earlier in the series, secessionists are probably one of the most pro-liberty movements afoot. In this installment, we examine the fallout from even a civilized secession, and how even the most well-meaning intentions will be twisted in the public eye to destroy those involved. And, so, we return to our italicized narrative, this time in the mythical State of Wytana.

The Governor of Wytana, who had run on a secessionist platform and won a resounding majority in the recent election, watched the unfolding national events in horror, and knew that his time had come. More than half the legislature had also expressed secessionist leanings, and was even now voting on the proposal to formally secede. When the secession bill arrived on his desk shortly after midnight, he was not surprised. Also not surprisingly, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a challenge in the State Supreme Court before his ink was even dry, but by noon the next day the Court had heard, and dismissed, the case. The secession was on. The Governor held a press conference to announce to the world that the Republic of Wytana was henceforth an independent nation. To avoid confusion, his title of Governor would remain.

In this article, we are going to assume a best case, in which the state legislative, executive and judicial branches, as well as the populace at large, are all overwhelmingly in favor of secession. Without these preconditions, a secessionist movement will have an even worse time than depicted here.

The same bill, which had authorized secession, also granted the Governor several specific executive powers. One of these was the establishment of a Republican Guard, with the Governor its supreme commander. He was further authorized to take any action necessary to protect the rights of the citizens against any actions of newly foreign national agents within the boundaries of the Republic, and to negotiate any mutual defense pacts with other Republics who might spring into being. By the time the Court had dismissed the SPLC case, the Governor had completed a teleconference with all counties and cities within the Republic, and explicitly authorized the responsible officials there to deputize all non-felons as they saw fit.

Individuals who had previously been convicted of federal crimes, including non-violent weapons possession, tax evasion, or drug possession, were henceforth pardoned and no longer considered felons in the Republic for the purpose of deputization. By sundown, the Republic could draw on the volunteer services of over a million armed adults, most of them military veterans.

Per the Governor’s instructions earlier that morning, the local sheriffs had begun submitting lists of the militia members with significant prior military experience who were willing to take positions in the Republican Guard. A military commissions board began assigning the Republican Guard’s officers and senior enlisted billets by noon the next day.

The Governor also authorized the detaining of any foreign national agents within the boundaries of the Republic, and the seizure and receipting for any assets of the formerly United States. Within hours, most of the foreign national overseers which had been posted in the local sheriff and police offices had been disarmed, and their equipment and credentials taken from them. Some of these overseers fled at the announcement of secession. Some of these were apprehended at the state border. Many fled to the national building in the capital, but the influx of refugees from various national agencies, and their families, were flooding the grounds, and many were turned away.

Other nationals fled to various national military reservations, but due to the jumpiness of the military police there, were shot by accident. Each base within the boundary of the Republic went into lockdown, and had to contend with a stream of off-base residents trying to gain access. The harried base commanders did their best to take in military dependent refugees, but some, particularly those families of active duty Wytanans sympathetic to the secession, refused to enter and preferred to stay outside. Those that did come were quartered in base gymnasiums, auditoriums, maintenance hangars, and anywhere else that cots and family partitions could be erected. Essentially, these bases were under quarantine.

Some nationals, particularly those staffing the DEA, BATFE, IRS and FBI, simply disappeared and were never seen again. A few shot it out with the locals, but were eventually subdued. Every single TSA agent at the Republic’s three airports left on available outgoing flights the first day.

As noted in our story above, a successful secession will immediately have to deal with inheriting the remnants of United States property and personnel within their borders. This becomes a problem in-being, rather than something which can be carefully negotiated first. And, to even attempt to address this issue or make policy beforehand will, in some eyes, be considered seditious, which is of course ludicrous unless free speech has already been suspended.

Fortunately, we’re just considering these issues academically here.

By noon on the second day, refugees at the federal building had exhausted all the available food. The administrator of the building agreed to accept the Governor’s offer of a writ of safe passage out of the Republic in exchange for surrendering of the building and grounds. The Governor, a man of his word, had the State — ahem — Republic police ensure an orderly loading of the refugees onto school buses and escort those buses to neighboring states. The nationals would be allowed to return on visas later to collect their personal belongings and make arrangements for the sale of their homes. A few decided to stay, move back into their homes and become Wytana citizens.

As a precaution, the Governor ordered the seizure of other non-military federal reservations, such as national forests. These, the legislature restored to the counties and localities within whose jurisdictions they lay. Several counties decided to offer these lands to refugees on a homestead basis.

The military bases were a tougher nut to crack. Stocked with better food, weapons, and the firm belief that national orders supercede the demands of the treasonous Wytanans, these base commanders saw their allegiance elsewhere. None agreed to surrender.

Events would soon prove their judgment right.

Wytanans weren’t the only player here, of course. Within hours of the secession, the national media sprang into action and began filming human interest stories. Interviews with Wytanan senior citizens, welfare recipients, government contractors, CPAs, etc., all revolved around the same theme “where am I going to get my check?” One particularly tear-stained single welfare mother of five became the poster child of news reports backed by stirring refrains of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”. These competed with news segment titles such as “First Secession, Is Slavery Next?” which filled the flat panel screens in homes across the nation. Lines into Washington were jammed with calls as worried citizens demanded action to save their family members in Wytana against slavery and mistreatment. President Obama’s staff revived his campaign Lincoln comparisons with his speeches about “Saving the Union” and “The New Gettysburg” and “Emancipation In Our Time”. His ratings were never higher, and the incipient events of the previous spring had been entirely forgotten in the public consciousness.

Foreign powers got in on the act almost immediately. Wytana, as it turns out, was the home of several dozen nuclear missile silos. Housed in bases stretching for hundreds of square miles, they were thinly guarded out there in the heartland. That fact made China in particular nervous, since many Wytanans found themselves out of jobs after several mills shut down and sent their work there in the past decade. China immediately offered President Obama their assistance in routing out the rebels, and hinted that if strong action wasn’t taken, and fast, China would be forced to take “defensive” measures on their own.

Briefed on this information, and flicking their political abacuses, Congress declared war for the first time since the age of FDR against the breakaway republic, and suspended Posse Comitatus. Wytanans living within the remainder of the United States, including families of military members, were rounded up by military units “for their own protection”, and Wytanans serving on active duty within the military were “reassigned” to administrative positions. These Wytanan dissidents, or worse, were joined by military members from other states which had strong secessionist movements, and who had voiced their opinions prior to the crisis. Oathkeepers, in particular, joined the Wytanans in being shuttled off to positions of no particular importance. The remainder of the military prepared for a blockade and attack on Wytana, as horror stories, most of them complete yellow media fabrications, filtered out from the state capital.

When the attack began, much of the assault on Wytana was conducted by Chinese special operations forces, while Americans provided security and logistics support, including transportation and attack drones. Chinese snipers were inserted by American helicopters at night to attack county and state leaders. The Governor’s Mansion was singled out for a dramatic “shock and awe” attack by a two-thousand pound GPS-guided bomb, as was the state capitol while the Legislature was in session. Within hours, the leadership of the secession had been effectively decapitated. Soon, the Lieutenant Governor capitulated as watchful drones hummed unseen high above his quarters.

Atrocities committed during the attack were chalked up to the Chinese forces. As a mock atonement, the Chinese responded with public execution of thousands of emaciated dissidents in poorly-fitting military uniforms. No one seemed to notice the incongruity, or was willing to point it out. The trials of the Wytanan survivors spanned decades, and secessionists were shunned from the public discussion for another century and a half. Gun elimination, not control, became a matter of public policy. Further, all law enforcement was reserved for a national civilian security force, in which no member is assigned duty in his home state, or any adjoining state.

Bummer.

But likely to happen pretty much that way. Remember, this was the best case scenario in which the Wytanans themselves were overwhelmingly in favor of secession.

How much harder will secession be in any circumstances short of that?

In his last moments as the blocks of the mansion came tumbling down upon him, the Governor of Wytana realized what Sheriff McGee knows, which is that the precipitating crisis just wasn’t big enough.

In the next installment, Crisis Secession, we discover how secessionists might plan for an alternate ending.

>A provocative essay at Gates of Vienna on how traditional ethnic lines are re-forming, despite decades of multiculturalist propaganda, in old Europe.

Sounds an awful lot like Robb’s “tribes”, only with the aperture of ethnicity open more fully.

As the author asks:

***…The events described above represent a tendency that does not sit well with the average law-abiding Western citizen. To most of us, motorcycle gangs and football hooligans do not represent the best of our kind. Theft, drug-running, extortion, and grievous bodily harm — these are activities that we prefer not to associate ourselves with.

This presents the ethnic nationalist with a terrible dilemma: when dissent against transnational multicultural orthodoxy is outlawed, who but outlaws will defend our traditional national cultures?

As the economic crisis deepens, the trend towards violent confrontation can only accelerate, since unemployment and the collapse of the currency will greatly enlarge the pool of those who have nothing to lose. When the carrot-and-stick extortion of the welfare state — the promise of benefits and the threat of their withdrawal — no longer has its intended effect, the main barrier to active resistance will have been removed.

Well-meaning law-abiding people can (and do) deplore the idea of regarding the Hells Angels as our ethnic protectors. To deplore is our privilege; we can deplore all we want, and keep deploring right up until our nations adopt full sharia. Deploring is about all we can do, since we have been politically castrated over the past five or six decades.

So what is the alternative?

None of us wants to have anything to do with Jønke, but who else is willing to oppose the vicious and violent behavior of feral immigrant “youths” in the working-class neighborhoods of European cities? And — given the weakness and fecklessness of our law enforcement and judicial apparatus — who else is vicious and violent enough to get the job done?

Unfortunately, at the moment it looks like the only choice we will get is between hooligans and sharia, between Jønke and people like Mullah Krekar. If you had to make the choice — if there were no other alternatives — whom would you choose?

Actually, there is a possible third alternative, namely anarchy and chaos, the War of All Against All. But in the end we will encounter the same dilemma: if the existing system breaks down — which seems a distinct possibility — either the Hells Angels or Mullah Krekar will end up running the show in the ruins of what used to be Western Civilization.

This is not a choice that any of us wants to face. But, if the current suicidal behavior of our political and cultural leaders continues, it may be the only choice we are given.***